Echoes of the Past (Fight the Good Fight, #1)
Military Sci Fi
Published Date: 5/10/2018
A republic under attack. A reluctant soldier. An all-out fight for the galaxy’s soul.
David Cohen prays he’ll live to see the other side of his first deployment. His people thought they had left war behind when they fled Earth centuries ago. Time, though, has not dulled the hatred and intolerance of their erstwhile oppressors. To defend his homeland’s freedom, David abandons his dream of becoming a rabbi for the battlefield… and discovers a side of himself he is not sure he can live with.
David's focus is clear when the bullets are flying. In the long hours after, he must reckon with the toll that blood and blame bring upon his mind. Can he square the tenets of his faith against his responsibility to crew and country? Nothing has prepared him to make decisions that could cause ruin or an end to generations of conflict... except for trust in God, himself, and those who serve under him.
If David Cohen survives it all, who will he be?
Fight the Good Fight Excerpt –
Space tore itself open in Sector 17A and a wormhole appeared, a swirling mass of color and energy. The CSV Yitzhak Rabin emerged, its artificial tunnel through the stars closing within seconds of its passage. On the bridge of the destroyer, Sheila was the first to speak. “Transit complete, sir! Emerging from wormhole within five thousand kilometers of target.”David took in the situation for a moment, looking above his chair at the CO’s display. Noting that all systems were nominal, he turned his attention to Ruth.
“TAO, report.”
Ruth’s eyes looked over her monitors. “Magnetic sensors snapping on, sir.” Blips appeared on the screens in front of her. “I’m detecting multiple League warships. Four Cobras, six Lancers; in addition, there are a number of transports that appear to be immobilized.” She did not bother reading out the Coalition ships present led by Dyson’s vessel, the CSV Dutiful—another Ajax class destroyer of an older vintage than the Rabin.
David nodded. Four Cobra class destroyers and six Lancer class frigates from the League weren’t bad odds for the Coalition force he had just joined. The Cobra was an older destroyer that the League deployed en masse; two of them alone were no match for the newest Ajax class destroyers, and Lancer class frigates were even less capable against newer Coalition technology. “TAO, what’s the closest enemy vessel to us?”
Ruth’s eyes never left her displays. “Two Lancers, designated Master One and Master Two; range, 30,000 kilometers.”
“Navigation, plot intercept course!”
Sheila announced from the navigation station, “Intercept course, aye, sir!”
“TAO, firing point procedures, neutron beams and magnetic cannons, target Master One and Master Two.”
Ruth called out from her station as she depressed various buttons on her console. “Aye, sir, firing solution set for Master One and Master Two.”
David sat back slightly in his chair. Fighting to keep his adrenaline in check, he checked his plot one more time. “TAO, shoot, all weapons.”
The Rabin’s engines fired brightly and the destroyer accelerated toward its targets. The two League Lancer-class frigates began to turn to face their new opponent. A full salvo of magnetic cannon projectiles erupted from the Rabin’s forward dorsal and ventral mag-cannon turrets and raced toward her opponents, followed by a burst from her neutron beam emitters. Hits sent ripples across the shielding of the targets. A bright flare came from the second Lancer, the barrage successfully battering down its shields.
“Conn, TAO! Contact Master One shields are now at thirty percent,” Ruth reported. “Master Two shields have failed!”
David acknowledged her statement with a slight nod. “Navigation, come about and present our forward arc to Master Two! TAO, firing point procedures, forward missile cell and magnetic cannons on Master Two!”
Ruth called back, “Firing solution set, sir!”
“TAO, shoot, all weapons!”
The Rabin turned sharply in space and brought her turreted mag-cannons to bear on her foe. Missiles shot from her forward missile cells, mounted both port and starboard along the
destroyer’s bow, and accelerated toward the League frigate. They were quickly followed by another salvo from her forward dorsal-mounted mag-cannons. Explosions ripped across the surface of the Lancer struck by the Rabin’s fury, blowing away the small vessel’s stern. Her lights dimmed and blinked out as she lost main power, turning her into a drifting derelict in space.
Ruth’s reaction was measured and professional. “Conn, TAO! Master Two disabled, sir.” Then she noticed something on her screen. “Master One coming about, sir!”
The other Lancer, having seen her sister’s destruction, came from above the Rabin and let loose with her own weapon’s complement —primarily missiles and plasma cannons— on the Rabin. The ship shook from the strain the barrage took on her shield generators and their protective moorings. Ruth stopped herself from gripping her board during the rocking. “Conn, TAO! Aft shields at sixty percent, aft point defense at eight-one percent effectiveness! Master One has taken up position directly behind us!”
David gave no outward reaction. The enemy had taken a risk with that maneuver, but trying to hide from his ship’s bow weaponry by moving along his stern would backfire for them. “TAO, firing point procedures, ready four anti-matter mines!”
Ruth’s reaction was nearly instantaneous as she armed the mines and prepared to launch. “Launch solution set, sir!”
David looked intently at his plot to be sure it was the right time to deploy. “TAO, shoot anti-matter mines!”
From the rear of the Rabin, the disc-shaped anti-matter charges dropped like depth charges of an old Earth wet navy. The helmsman on the doomed Lancer had been following too closely and was too slow in trying to avoid the mines. The first struck the Lancer’s forward shield and the resulting explosion caused the shield to fail for several seconds, leaving the other three mines to pass through unharmed to smack against the Lancer’s thin armored hull. Matter met anti-matter, and in a flash of radiation, they annihilated each other, producing a massive explosion of energy that ripped and melted through the Lancer. Each mine in succession provided a larger explosion until the third’s self-immolation claimed the Lancer’s primary missile magazine, detonating its own volatile projectiles. A process feared by all space crews began as the ship literally blew itself apart from the inside out. The resulting debris was no larger than one-foot chunks, and no escape pods were launched.
About the Author
Ever since watching Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back at the age of five, with his father, Daniel has loved science fiction. Reading hundreds of sci-fi novels, during his teenage years, Daniel came up with the EOTP (Echoes of the Past) universe. Twenty years later, its finally becoming a reality!
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